Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Details
are still sketchy but KRTH (101.1 FM) has demoted popular afternoon
drive host “Shotgun” Tom Kelly. Kelly – whose contract was up for
renewal – will be removed from the afternoon drive slot he has hosted
for the past 22 years and will instead become the station’s
“ambassador.” His last day is said to be scheduled for today (August
28).

“Ambassador”
according
to the press release issued by the station means someone who will
make personal appearances, work with clients (advertisers), be
showcased in
on-air features, and work on charitable events and special
projects.

“Ambassador”
according
to everyone outside of the (KRTH owner) CBS la-la land means “we
don’t
care that you’re one of the primary reasons for KRTH’s monster
ratings and
success for almost a quarter century, we pay you too much and we
need to cut
costs now.” Kelly is not the only long-time high-paid personality
to be removed
from their positions in the last few weeks. It does showcase that
any class CBS
once had is all gone. And for that matter, CBS radio itself is
probably on the
way out.

Kelly
deserves
better. I hope he gets it.

CBS
Gone?

The latest -- and I
must stress:
totally unconfirmed -- rumor has cost-cutting at CBS-owned radio
stations
nationwide in full swing. It seems that no station in the chain is
not being at
least evaluated, and no personality is necessarily safe. KRTH is
but one
example.

Not that this is new
in our
corporate McRadio world. Large group owners such as CBS,
IHeartMedia and
Cumulus were never able to make their multiple-station
pseudo-monopoly business
plans work, so for years they’ve been laying off the very people
who made radio
what it once was, and have relied on their essential monopolies to
retain
ratings.

The ratings side has
basically
worked. If you don’t count teenagers who haven’t tuned into radio
for at least
a decade, total listenership to radio has held fairly steady. The
problem is
that advertisers figured out that listeners with no passion for a
station do
not make very good consumers. End result: revenue throughout the
industry has
dropped and the major corporate players are caught with staggering
debt. Future
years will be worse as the industry has no one to replace current
listeners. No
wonder stocks are at an all-time low for most radio groups.

In the case of the
CBS, the rumor
-- and again I must stress it is a rumor -- is that there is
pressure on upper
management to just dump the stations. But the stations cannot be
sold until
costs are in line with a supposed goal.

Here’s the juicy part
of the rumor:
once those costs hit that certain threshold, I am told, the
stations are ready
to go under pre-negotiated terms to Cumulus and one of the few
remaining decent
large radio groups, Entercom.

If true, that would
shake up the
entire industry. CBS is the last of the “original” group owners,
though the
line back to the original Columbia Broadcasting Company is
stretched quite
slim. KNX, for example, has been owned by CBS for the vast
majority of its
93-year existence. NBC and ABC sold off their radio stations years
ago.

Before the recent cuts
that include
the removal of Kelly from KRTH afternoons, I personally hoped the
rumor was
false. Now I am not so sure. It seems CBS is hell-bent on
destroying stations
the same way Cumulus has done with theirs, so I would be fine with
Entercom taking
control of the local CBS properties. Hopefully Cumulus won’t take
part in the
fire sale … if, again, the rumor is true.

Of course if they all
went away and
local ownership returned, that would be the best solution...

The Sage is Back

Since being removed
from the lineup
at KABC (790 AM), Larry Elder has been doing a podcast at
www.larryelder.com.
Currently the podcast is live from 12 noon the 3 pm, with the
first two hours
being available as a simulcast on CRN Digital Talk Radio (online)
at
crntalk.com.

Now those first two
hours can be
heard via tape delay every weeknight at 9 p.m. on KRLA (870 AM).
Why not live
and why not all three hours I don’t know, but fans of Elder are
happy just to
have him on the air again.

Ratings Quickies

I don’t cover the
ratings monthly
because I think we would both be tired of the constant coverage.
But here’s some
quickies from the July Nielsens:

• IHeartMedia and CBS
combined
control almost half -- 47.4 percent -- of the ratings. IHeart owns
such
stations as KIIS-FM (102.7), KOST (103.5 FM), and KFI (640 AM)
among others.
CBS counts KNX, KRTH, and KROQ among its eight local stations.

• The next largest
group owner
ratings-wise is Univision, with 8.6 percent of the radio
listenership.
Univision owns four stations in Los Angeles including KTNQ (1020
AM).

• The Sound (KSWD,
100.3 FM) found
itself in the top-5 overall ... the best the frequency has done
ever.

• KRRL (92.3 FM) and
KPWR (105.9
FM) are neck and neck (3.2 vs. 3.1, respectively) after a few
months of
domination by KRRL. Interestingly, the station that seems to have
been hurt
more by KRRL’s format change early this year? KRRL sister station
KIIS-FM,
which found itself down in 4th place ... out of the top-three for
the first
time since, well, I can’t even remember.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Tyrell
is an accomplished vocalist and entertainer with a talent to attract
listeners cutting across generations and a very distinctive voice. Under
then-programmer Brad Chambers, he was the image voice for adult
standards station The Fabulous 570 (later The Fabulous 690) back in the
days when KLAC (570 AM) wanted ratings.

Following
Tyrell at 9:00 is a new program focussing on bebop hosted by Bubba
Jackson and dedicated to the memory of Chuck Niles, one of the foremost
advocates of bebop on jazz radio for decades.

Blame Arbitron

Nielsen
owns the company now, but it was Arbitron that developed the PPM system
for ratings collection. PPM is a system that “hears” what station
someone tunes in and uses the data to calculate ratings.

The
problem is that the system relies heavily on audio ... the PPM signal
“hides” in the station’s audio, and experts tell me that many voices
don’t work well with the system. In other words, talking and silent
passages won’t work, so talk and classical music stations -- which
feature voices or silent passages -- are at a distinct disadvantage.

That’s
why stations put those awful music beds under much of the programming,
including KFI, which will now play an upbeat diddy as they tell you of
some tragic news event.

And
there’s the rub: the move may allow for better ratings collection, but
it makes the station unlistenable. Ratings may be “higher,” but the
count in my estimation includes fewer actual listeners. I know I for one
cannot stand the music beds, and I tune out.

I cannot be the only one. This is a problem that must be addressed before the system implodes. PPM seems to be unfixable.

OTR Convention

SPERDVAC
- the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety And Comedy
- is in the late planning stages for their annual convention. This year
it will be held in Burbank at the Holiday Inn Media Center, 150 E.
Angeleno Avenue on November 6th, 7th and 8th.

I’ve
been to a few of the conventions and they are a blast. There are Meet
and Greets with stars old and new, panel discussions, and old time radio
program re-creations that are amazing to watch. It truly takes you back
to another time.

Information will be updated as it is confirmed on the SPERDVAC web site, www.sperdvac.com.

Mighty Five

My wife says I live too much in the past. But it’s not just me.

Chris
Torrick was a huge fan of one of my favorite stations of the past,
XETRA/Tijuana, Mexico, which during the early 1980s was using their huge
transmitter just South of the US border to send top-40 hits our way as
“The Mighty 690.”

The
Mighty 690 was one of the last high-powered top-40 AM stations in the
country (U.S. or Mexico, in case you are asking which country). Torrick
liked it so much he set up an online streaming station playing much of
the same music.

“That
crazy idea I had about bringing ‘The Mighty 690’ back as an online
station is creeping up on its 5th anniversary,” Torrick told me. “Since
we started we have exceeded 2000 Facebook friends and have exceeded an
average of 10,000 listening sessions per month.”

And
now it’s not just on your computer. Apps are available for iPhones,
Androids and Blackberries so you can now tune directly via your smart
phone.

“I never thought that it would grow like it has, but I am so stoked about this and the future,” Torrick concluded.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Monday,
August 10th at 9 a.m., KFI (640 AM) made the switch to the FM band. At
least through the magic of digital HD radio. KLAC (570 AM) did the same.

It’s
not really anything new, as KABC (790 AM) has been simulcast on KLOS’s
(95.5 FM) extra HD stream for years, as has KMZT (1260 AM) which is one
of the extra channels on Go Country’s (105.1 FM) HD signal. To hear any
of these HD signals over the broadcast airwaves you must use an
HD-capable tuner, found in many new cars and trucks. They are available
online as well.

What
makes KFI’s move significant is that the station has essentially given
up on the AM HD signal. The significance? KFI was among the first to
broadcast using HD, and it is -- or was -- considered one of the best
success stories for HD digital broadcasts on the AM band. More on that
later.

Here’s
how it works: using an HD radio, tune to KOST (103.5 FM) and wait for
the radio to lock onto the digital signal. Once that is done, simply
tune up one channel to hear the KFI simulcast. To hear KLAC on FM, do
the same thing but on KYSR (Alt 98.7 FM). You can save them as presets
for direct tuning in the future, though you won’t hear anything until
the tuner buffers enough data ... similar to listening online.

Audio
quality is good, though it could be better. Surprisingly, the KFI feed
sounded a bit less “full” to me than I remember from when they used HD
on their AM signal until earlier this Summer, though that could be a
false memory. Currently KNX (1070 AM) and KMZT (if you are close enough
to receive it) have the best sounding AM HD signals in town.

The
problem comes when you reach a bad signal area. Unlike AM HD or the
main signals on FM, which drop to analog in weak signal areas, the
signals on the extra FM channels just drop out completely. I found KFI
dropping out as I drove to the beach Monday on the South side of the
Palos Verdes Peninsula. KLAC dropped out even more, which is not that
unexpected: the signal for Alt 98.7 itself is among the worst in town,
so the HD has trouble staying locked.

But when it works, it does sound nice. If you happen to own an HD radio, give it a listen and let me know your thoughts.

Dead

That
KFI would drop their HD signal on AM may be a signal of sorts ... that
owner IHeartMedia believes HD on AM is dead. Ultimately, that would mean
AM itself is dead, since HD was originally conceived to help bring AM
on par with FM in sound quality. If HD doesn’t work on KFI -- among the
most powerful stations in the United States and one in which it should
work flawlessly -- small stations are doomed. Or so some say.

The
loss of HD wouldn’t be a bad thing if AM stations would open up their
audio as they did during the AM stereo days; audio bandwidth was cut
drastically on the analog signal to make room for the HD stream. Without
HD, perhaps wideband AM can return. Wideband analog AM sounds wonderful
on a good radio, though still noisier than HD.

And of course there is that pesky need for programming that people actually want to hear.

Wheel ... Of ... Hits

You
know his as Pat Sajak, longtime host of the immensely popular
television game show, Wheel of Fortune. But Sajak has an earlier life, a
more important life ... as a top-40 radio DJ.

Airchexx.Com
found a tape of Sajak as heard on WSM/Nashville, recorded June 23,
1975. It’s a different style, though still laid back and in control as
he is with Wheel.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

I
had a chance to visit the studios of The Sound (KSWD, 100.3 FM) last
week as a fly on the wall of the Mark in the Morning program. Primary
host Mark Thompson was in town for some events related to the Orange
County Fair so Sound programmer Dave Beasing thought it would be a good
time to come up; Thompson normally does his part of the show from his
home in Charlotte, North Carolina vis the magic of computers.

I
figured I better dress up for the occasion ... instead of shorts and a
t-shirt I went all out and wore jeans and a t-shirt. Thompson, on the
other hand was in shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops, more often walking
barefoot around the studio as the morning’s events unfolded.

I
was fascinated to find that the show had less prep work than I had
anticipated ... and at the same time, more prep work than I had
anticipated. In different ways, of course.

The day’s program was fully structured down to the minute as to the type
of material -- comedy bit, interview, music, etc. -- to be presented.
Yet nothing was in any way pre-rehearsed. Even a recording of a
comedian’s opinions on clowns or an old sound bite of Thompson himself
was scheduled, but not pre-played. The crew actually had no idea what
was going to be said; that information was exclusive to show’s producer
who provided the audio clips.

“I
do that on purpose,” Thompson explained. “I want the reactions to be
real. When you hear laughter, or anything else for that matter, it’s
real.”

Also
real is the reaction when things go wrong. The show is planed down to
the minute, but that doesn’t mean it actually happens as scheduled.
Segments may run long, stars to be interviewed may be late. While I was
observing, Parker Posey (Starring in “Irrational Man”) was delayed and
her time ran into time that was for Simon Pegg (“Mission Impossible -
Rogue Nation”). Thompson decided to interview them together, and for a
time Pegg interviewed Posey. Live radio at its best, though it could
have turned into a real fail had the stars not been so gracious to each
other.

The
main studio features screens everywhere. Direct access to the internet,
the main program screen which controls the music and commercials played
(a computer version of the old cart system for radio old-timers), a
television showing current news and a web-cam enabled computer that
normally acts as the feed for Thompson when he’s back home in Charlotte.
Andy Chanley runs the main board, Gina Grad (who has one of the most
infectious laughs I have ever heard) is constantly able to look up
information via her own iPad, and even Thompson is constantly checking
things on the net or via the show notes he keeps in a pile in front of
him.

Things you may not know:

•
Little is discussed ahead of time, other than what comes up next.
Thompson calls it “improv radio,” even as he claims to hate improv.

•
The show actually only runs until 9; the 9-10 a.m. hour is a “best of”
from each morning’s program. “We found that the typical listener listens
for a very short time,” says Thompson, “and the audience in later hours
is totally different than the earlier hours.”

•
Even the end of the program, where the show is “turned over” to “Uncle”
Joe Benson at 10 a.m., is pre-recorded before hand, in a different
studio. That the entire thing is seamless is a testament to the talent
of the producers and modern computer-based recording equipment.

My
take on the whole thing: Thompson, Grad, and Chanley may be the most
interesting -- and intelligent -- program of its type on the radio.

Correction

I
had hoped to blame my editor, but alas, it was all my fault. Reader
Ralph Westfall asked, “Saw your column in the Long Beach paper. It
didn't say how serving Southern California for 93 years correlated with a
47th anniversary. Maybe like a guy in a bad marriage? Joking...”

As I said, it is my fault. I should have said KNX is celebrating its 47th year as an all-news station, though it went on the air in 1922.